College Students and Apartment Advertisements

Statistics show that college students who are searching for an apartment typically do not use traditional advertising methods to find the apartment they want and need. Traditional advertising methods would include advertisements for available apartments in the local newspaper or the campus newspaper. However, the vast majority of college students are heading online to search for the apartment they want to live in. The information was provided by a survey of hundreds of college students that was taken nationwide.

A marketing firm in Austin, Catalyst, conducted the survey because they specialize in the industry of college student housing. In the survey, they asked hundreds of different students how they went about finding apartments and how big of a role the online world social media had on finding an apartment. More than half of the students who participate in the survey said that they predominantly use Google search or other types of Internet searches to find the apartment they need. Nearly 37 percent of those students said that they were able to find apartments because of recommendations they received. Students also seemed to agree that apartments advertised within the campus newspaper and local newspaper were least effective for helping them find the apartment they need.

The survey that was conducted also received information showing that 98 percent of students who are in college rely on Google’s search engine to find an assortment of different information online. In fact, 71 percent of the students who participated in the survey agreed that Google is, by far, one of the most important websites on the Internet, especially when it comes to how often they use the website and what it is actually used for. Both Google and Facebook were ranked as important amongst the college students. These students also said that they do not use Twitter or Google+ very often at all. Google+ is still in its earlier phases.

While students are looking for an apartment, they usually rely on search engines instead of actually going to websites that are designed to help people find apartments, such as apartments.com. Many students say they prefer to simply use the search engine to find apartments and apartment communities instead of using those websites.

The survey shows the impact that digital media has on today’s students, especially when it comes to making housing decisions. The survey also showed that nearly half of these students spend at least four hour a day on the computer. Nearly half of those students also have an iPhone or some other type of smartphone, such as an Android, in which they can use the Internet from their phone. Students also ranked e-mail and text messaging as their favorite ways of communicating with other people electronically.